now we know

Remember when I was concerned with what Freckles would do to the chickens?

We now know.


Happiness and excitement were in the air here today as we watched two of the duck eggs hatch. The rest of them seemed to have not made it somewhere along the way. Liv and I were jumping up and down and hugging each other when the first one broke free of its' shell. The second one was a surprise we found after the kids had bike ride. Over dinner, we discussed possible names and giggled.

Then....
I can hardly type it. I went downstairs to find that Freckles had broken into the incubator and eaten the ducklings. Those soft, downy wobbly little creatures who were so tuckered out after a 48 hour trial to get out of their eggs....only to be eaten by a fucking dog. He also ate all the remaining eggs in the incubator...eggs that had been stagnating in a warm place for weeks. It's like an avian horror movie down there. Rotten egg yolk, shells and baby duck poop are all over the floor. It stinks.

And we have no ducklings.

We worked so hard learning the various stages of development, candling the eggs to check viability, measuring temperature and humidity, researching the steps of the hatch, turning the eggs multiple times a day, etc. We were ecstatic to see the 'ducks' of our labour. Liv was proud. She called a bunch of her friends inviting them over to see the babes.

And that asshole ate them. Fucking dog. Does anyone want a border collie/golden retriever cross? Great with kids! Bad, really bad with poultry. Liv is heart-broken....So am I.